Ypsilon Mountain (WØC/FR-ØØ9) is located in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and is part of the Mummy Range. The Mummy Range is a sub-range of the Front-Range of the Rocky Mountains and consists of six 13’ers (and a slew of lower ones). Starting with Mount Chapin in the south-west, it arcs to the north-east and ends with Signal Mountain. Some of the more prominent peaks are also SOTA summits. Ypsilon Mtn. was first activated about a month ago by N7UN (Guy) – here is his activation report.

The trip was planned for Sunday and we got the first snow-fall of the season on the Wednesday before. Thus, the access road to the trail-head was closed by the Park-Service  on Thursday but re-opened on Friday. The weather forecast was great for Sunday, and even better – my wife was going to join me on this trip as well – all signs pointed towards a great trip.

The original plan was to activate Fairchild Mountain (WØC/FR-Ø1Ø – 4115 m / 13502 ft) which is just a mile or two from Ypsilon Mountain. However, after reaching the steep ridge joining Ypsilon and Fairchild Mountain we reconsidered the plan for safety reasons. The amount of snow and ice on the ridge combined with the high winds (30-40 mi/h) made us abandon the plan and we climbed Ypsilon Mtn. instead.

The first few peaks in the south-west of the Mummy Range can be reached from the Chapin Pass trail-head.

Trailhead: 11041 ft / 3365 m
Summit:   13514 ft / 4119 m
Elev. gain: 3019 ft / 920 m
Roundtrip: 7.34 mi / 11.8 km

Compare this summit with my other activated summits

How to get there:
Take US34 from Loveland to Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. In Estes Park, stay on US34 and enter RMNP through Fall River Entrance Station. Just after Sheep Lakes, take a right onto Old Fall River Road – a one way dirt road going all the way up to the RMNP Alpine Visitor Center. The dirt road is in pretty good shape but be careful in some of the switchbacks if you do not have a high-clearance vehicle. Around mile-marker six, the trail-head is on the right side of the road and the car can be parked across the road. Space is limited to 10-12 cars max.

Parking/Trailhead

View Larger Map

Red Tape:

• RMNP charges an entrance fee of $20/car (valid for seven consecutive days). The usual passes are accepted as well. For details check their website.
• Old Fall River road is a one-way dirt road which is often closed due to adverse weather conditions. You can check the road conditions on this website.
• Few parking spots – you have to be early to claim your spot at the TH.
• It is high country… weather conditions can change really fast. Afternoon lightning storms are not uncommon in summer.

The Ascent:
The first section of the trail leads through large and mature pine trees. The trail is well established and clearly marked by NP signs. After reaching the treeline, a last sign  indicates

the direction to reach ALL SUMMITS and the fact that the trail is not maintained beyond the sign. Nevertheless, it is quite easy to follow the rock-slide area to the saddle between Chapin (3795 m/12454 ft) and Chiquita Mountain ( 3983 m/13069 ft). Here we experienced the first snow on the ground and extreme winds on the saddle. We followed the trail up to the fake summit of Ypsilon Mtn. Walking upright and in a straight line was rough at times – the icy, howling wind felt like a thousand needles in the face and the summit was engulfed in blowing snow and ice crystals. It felt, sounded and looked more like an ascent to Nanga Parbat – but the GPS confirmed that we are still in Colorado. We tried to stay on the contour line leading directly to the ridge between Ypsilon and Fairchilk Mountain to avoid unnecessary elev gain/loss. A trail was no longer available/visible. The rocky and barren surface was covered by wind-pressed snow and ice. On several occasions I sank into deep snow-drifts well above my knees. However, the route is easy to pick – there are no obstacles to navigate.

The Summit:
The summit offers incredible views in all directions. It also provides two stone wind-shelters which were filled with drifting snow and could unfortunately not be used at all – leaving us exposed to the howling winds.

Under normal circumstances the summit provides ample space to set up the equipment – however, the low temperatures (~10 to 15 F [-12 to -15 C] ) and high winds (~30-40 mi/h) made my teeth chatter (literally), and taking off the gloves was not something I was looking forward to either. Setting up the equipment for 15-20 minutes under this conditions was just not an option. In order to still be able to activate the summit and claim my SOTA points I used my HT on 146.52 MHz to quickly get some QSO’s. I wrapped it up within 5 minutes on the summit, took a few snapshots, put my gloves back on (trying to get the blood flowing in my fingers again ) and we headed downhills with the wind now in our face.

The Descent:
It was a quick retreat against the wind, following basically the same route. We had not had an opportunity yet to eat lunch, and we were looking for sheltered space. There was nothing until we reached the treeline – it was still cold but getting out of the wind after more than 5 hours was a nice change.
To get back to Estes Park, we had to follow the Old Fall River Road up to the Alpine Visitors Center of the RMNP. From there we took Trail Ridge Road east – a quite scenic drive through the heart of the Rockies.

Some video impressions:
The weather conditions were not ideal to take a lot of photo/video shots. I only have a few clips when the wind was not too bad.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K1YZeKOido

If you would like to leave questions or comments, please do so through Youtube.

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!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers... there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required - enjoy!